Another motorcycle safety commercial…  This one is original at least.  It was created by The Motor Accident Commission of South Australia, the TV AD utilizes real MotoGP footage and has an appearance by Mick Doohan.

Hit the jump and check it out for yourself.

The concept sounds great but like with any new product or idea it may look good on paper but how well will it work in the real world, Darren Haley from FLIR is trying to find out.  Haley, is currently testing out this product that is hands-free, it uses a thermal camera that is plugged into a GPS unit to display a more detailed image when riding at night.

If you missed it the first time around, the National Geographic Channel will be airing the Motorcycle Crash Tech show again tomorrow (Thurs, Sept 24th).

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the remarkable new technologies being used to avoid motorcycle crashes, and prevent injuries or even death when a racer or rider does go down.

Hit the jump to watch the preview.

Attracting attention while riding is not always an easy thing to do, but imagine if you could ride naked!  That’s the concept behind the AD that was created to promote motorcycle awareness in New Zealand, unfortunately its not an option (or fortunately depending on who it is) unless your looking to attract some negative attention from the police…

Harley-Davidson was kind enough to post on Twitter a PDF of a list of things to bring with you on a long motorcycle trip.

And what a list!

It’s hard to believe you could squeeze all this stuff onto yourself and your bike.

A few interesting things in the list are:

• Duct tape
• Emergency Blanket
• Small towel
• Cargo net
• Replacement fuses
• Change of shoes
• Tool kit

I guess Harley is expecting a very long ride!  Seems like you would be ready for anything with the long list they’ve provided.

Check out the rest of the article for an image to glance at, a PDF to save on your desktop, and the full list in plain text to copy and paste into an email to send to a buddy.  Thanks to Harley-Davidson for the list!

If you are planning a long trip, bone-up on your motorcycle safety and training over at Motorcycle.com’s Rider Training and Safety section.

Love Batman?  I mean, REALLY love batman?  Love Batman enough that you dress up like him even when it’s not Halloween?

Hey, me too!  Now you can look like Batman even while riding your motorcycle and be fully protected from the elements (and maybe falls).

It was going to happen sooner or later.  With Batman’s latest movie, The Dark Knight, featuring Batman on his Bat-cycle (or “Batpod”), you knew there had to be some motorcycle-batman crossover paraphernalia.  Actually I’m quite shocked this wasn’t out sooner.

Universal Designs are making officially licensed Batman: The Dark Knight motorcycle jackets, pants, gloves and boots that replicate what Bruce Wayne wore while chasing down that pesky Joker.  And it looks to be the real deal, with removable CE approved armor in the jacket and pants so it’s not just some fancy costume!

There’s no indication of price or when these products will actually come out.  Hopefully I can convince the editors at Motorcycle.com to try them out (mainly just to try and embarrass them).

Check out the rest of the post for features and a pic of the whole outfit.  I’m not sure about those wrist-blade thingys.  Seems like they would poke an eye out!

The world is getting more and more paranoid about safety for children.  Sure, this can be a good thing in some aspects but in others it’s just ridiculous.

In America, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act became a law which allowed congress to ban products that could be harmful due to traces of lead found in them.  Sounds like a good idea on paper but it seems that this could be doing more harm than good.

Youth motorcycles and ATVs may contain a small amount of lead in some parts of these vehicles such as the alloy used to connect AZ batteries terminals.  Because of this, the CPSIA can ban all of these recreational vehicles from children. The Motorcycle Industry Council claims that this amount of lead and the way it might ever interact with a child (ie: not swallowing it) would never cause any harm.

Banning toys with lead in them was to make sure that if a child happens to put a toy car (for example) in their mouth, they wouldn’t get lead poisoning from such an innocent act (we’ve all put toy cars in our mouths at some point as kids!).

Motorsport can be and is a family sport.  I remember going to a motocross show as a kid with my friends and family, marveling at the high-flying dirt bikes.  Most, if not all of the professionals out there on bikes probably got their inspiration under the same scenario.  They saw those amazing feats and exciting races and had to get on a bike.

And they did, and at a very young age.

With the ban of these recreational vehicles catered to kids, where will the new batch of racers come from?  Can the sport even survive without giving young enthusiasts a chance to try it out?  Will youth riders start riding adult sized vehicles and be in even more danger?

My real question is: Does the tiny amount of lead found in the alloy in some small bits of metal (that will never get ingested) even matter when kids are now using cell phones, staying indoors to play video games, sitting at computers all day, eating junk food and doing tons of other things that can do more harm than good?  Would denying them the fun, excitement, experience and even the education of riding be better when the alternative might be picking up a video game controller instead?

Could the industry avoid this whole ordeal by improving and developing parts to not include that lead?

What do you think about the ban of youth motorcycles and ATVs?

The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) is out to stop the ban and by golly they are giving it their best shot!

See the rest of the post for a few videos about the ban.  Head over to MIC to sign a petition and read up on their cause.  Follow them on twitter to stay up to date (we have!)

A Sikh in Ontario, Canada, has lost his challenge to the $110 ticket he received back in September 2005 for not wearing a helmet while riding his Honda Shadow.  Baljinder Badesha, 39, claims the Ontario helmet law is “100 per cent” discrimination no matter what the safety issues are when riding without a helmet.

We cannot put anything over the turban, it is against our religion.  Mr. Badesha said outside court.

Often a favored destination for motorcyclists for its vast highways and picturesque scenery, the Canadian province of Quebec may soon be a miserable place for many of the bikers who live there.

The provincial auto insurance board known as the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) is proposing a list of new rules that is sure to be unpopular for riders and manufacturers alike. The proposed regulation states that people under the age of 25 and anyone with less than five years of motorcycle riding experience would not be permitted to own or insure motorcycles deemed to be ‘high-risk’ by the board. In an attempt to allegedly reduce accidents involving inexperienced riders, SAAQ indicates that the system would place strict rules ownership.

J.D. Power and Associates who do independent and unbiased surveys and polls have gathered information on customer satisfaction of motorcycle helmets.

The study measures the overall satisfaction of motorcyclists with their new helmet in three key factors: ventilation, face shield, and design and styling; which consist of 11 attributes: quietness; ventilation/air flow; de-fogging; face shield ability to keep wind out; face shield ability to resist scratching; ease of replacing face shield; scratch resistance of shell; color/graphic design; weight; ease of fastening the strap; and fit and comfort.

Interesting.  This is an excellent buying tip for those of you who need new helmets.  So who won?

Arai pulled ahead scoring 830 points on a 1,000 point scale (that’s a lot of points).

If you are shopping for a helmet, we recommend picking up a full face helmet as it can protect your pretty smile from flying debris on the road.  Also note that in a crash a helmet improves your chance of survival by 37% so WEAR ONE!

Head to Motorcycle.com’s Motorcycle Rider Safety and Training section for more tips.

Updated:  Re-ordered for awesomeness!

See the full article for the top 5 ranked helmets from J.D. Power and Associates along with some pics.